Developer: Nihilistic Software
Publisher: SCEE
Release Date: Out Now
Players: 1 or 2
Words By:
Gleeber and Lunk, a weird pair of aliens interrupt our heroes, who are going about their individual daily shenanigans, and whisk them away to an unknown planet. The aliens’ fiendish plan is to build a new arena planet known as Gleebertopia and use Ratchet & Clank, Jak & Daxter, Sly Cooper and his pal Bentley for TV entertainment purposes. The heroes are then “invited” to compete in a series of challenges to test their extraordinary skills in the televised Inter Universal Hero Games, and they have little choice but to compete as their home planets were put on “pause” by the time-controlling Gleeber when they were snatched. And so there you have it, a thinly-veiled excuse for a test bed for Sony’s new control system, but how does it play? Well, the result is a lot of fun actually, and although we’ve seen plenty of Ratchet & Clank on the PS3 it’s always nice to be reunited with old friends that you haven’t seen for a while like Sly, Jak & Daxter.
The gameplay centres on our heroes rescuing lots of baby Whibbles and returning them to their Mum. Set in bits of Metropolis City from Ratchet & Clank, Haven City from Jak and Daxter and Paris from Sly Racoon, the levels consist of a mixture of play styles ranging from running around shooting enemies to seeking out and releasing caged Whibbles by steering a flying disc or bowling ball into them. All modes seem to control really well, and all levels can also be played as a 2-player co-op; the second player only needs a single motion controller and controls an extra gunsight to aim and shoot various weapons and also selects which special weapon or powerup is used. One of the co-op weapons is activated by touching the motion controllers together (awww, sweet!), a brief moment of togetherness that results in a spectacular explosion removing all enemies from the area.
Unfortunately the game’s structure is rather rigid and you have, for instance, to complete all of the Metropolis levels before you get to play the second set (Jak’s Haven city), which means you’ll probably be sick of the Metropolis scenery long before you finish the levels. Like all Move games you calibrate the controller(s) before playing and it’s vital to get the set up correct, as quick and accurate response is critical to success in the game. The bowling and flying disc levels in particular start off easy but soon increase the difficulty, with devilishly complex maps and Whibbles hidden in some very tricky places. Many levels are melee battles featuring Jak, Sly or Ratchet that require you to beat a certain number of alien enemies with melee weapons like Jak’s eco whip or Sly’s hooked staff. Clank, Daxter or Bentley’s melee levels comprise simple but pleasing shoot ’em up gunplay. Other maps feature cunning layouts that turn areas into huge, pinball-like bowling alleys that require you to steer an exploding bowing ball into a Whibble’s cage to release it and others place Whibbles in all sorts of elevated and hidden places and you have to fly a Frisbee-like flying disc around trying to smash the Whibble’s cages.
Smashing crystals fills a gauge that activates a Hero’s “Ultimate Ability”, for instance; Jak’s Dark Jak power is basically a smart bomb that kills surrounding robots, Sly’s sneak ability slows all the enemies down making them easier to kill, Ratchet’s Groovitron makes all enemies dance rather than attack you, Clank gets a team of Zoni to help him shoot enemies, Daxter’s power makes his flying disc indestructible and Bentley’s Autohack highlights the location of any hidden Whibbles.
I found Daxter, Clank and Bentley’s flying disc levels to be both the hardest and the most enjoyable, with many of the later melee and shoot ‘em up maps being a bit of a chore. The OTT Buzz-like announcer that introduces EVERY level will also probably start to grate, but I imagine this bit is hiding some loading so I’ll forgive him.
PlayStation Move Heroes is a fun and challenging exercise in Move mechanics, but despite a back story and high-quality cut scenes doesn’t really feel like a complete game, and we’d much rather have had a full-on adventure in the mould of the most recent R&C or J&D games. Although the designers tried to mix things up the scenery lacks variety and the gameplay soon gets too repetitive. Nonetheless, if you’re a fan of the 3 franchises, a first opportunity to control them in a new way may be hard to resist.
Best Bits
- Looks amazing - Loads going on on-screen - Lots of levels - Co-op mode
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